His son the prince of Wales (a smarmy-to-the-max Rupert Everett) puts him in an asylum. Since the court quacks don’t know this, they blister the king’s skin and sniff his stools. Experts say the king suffered from porphyria, a metabolic imbalance whose symptoms resemble madness. Just watch this distinguished actor (a Tony winner for Shadowlands) dig into the part of a formal monarch and father of 15 who is suddenly shitting his pants, blaring obscenities and running amok like Jim Carrey. The thrill of Hawthorne’s astounding performance is not something you want to miss. But front and center is Nigel Hawthorne, repeating his stage role as the king and riding the film to glory. Hytner’s sly direction can’t disguise the thin background characters engaged in familiar intrigue. Nicholas Hytner, who directed the stage version of George in England and the United States, makes a potent film debut by setting off royal fireworks on a mere $8 million budget. Comedy and tragedy cohere in this extraordinary film of Alan Bennett’s play. That’s a laugh even Richard Nixon might have appreciated. The theory goes that Americans will feel remote from this 1788 crisis in the life of George III - the king who lost the colonies and later his mind - since we’ve never seen one of our leaders go crackers in office.
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